ReMix:Cuphead "La Danza Macabra del Tren de los Muertos" 4:50

Our first Cuphead ReMix! I'm old, thus I love Fleischer-style animation, so, paired with fun run-and-gun mechanics and Kristofer Maddigan's badass big band jazz, what's not to like about the mega-hit game? Now we've got some more TheManPF goodness this month, as he pulled together some ringers for a rockin' Pixel Mixers-based indie games tribute:

• Arrangement, sequencing, mix and guitars by TheManPF
• Bass by BadHairlineProductions
• Keyboards by Ian Martyn
• Theremin by Daniel Romberger (from The Game Brass)

Part of the reason why TheManPF is the man is because he's generous and copious with his credit (even while macabre, whodathunk?):

""The Danse Macabre of the Train of the Dead" is an symphonic rock/metal/jazz arrangement of "Railroad Wrath" from the 2017 video game Cuphead. This arrangement was done for the Pixel Mixers album The Great Tale of the Little Ones Vol. 3, a collaborative album with several remixes of indie video games spanning from 2017 to 2021. Even though they're not part of the specific submission (I mastered this version myself), I want to credit the team behind the album where this was included:

• Production: Hashel
• Mastering: Erika Richards
• Artwork: Troisnyx

I've always wanted to do a Cuphead cover, and especially "Railroad Wrath" (which used to be my favorite track from the game before the DLC came along), which I always envisioned as a dark, creepy, sort of melancholic, but also heavy-as-fuck song, representing the passing of the train of the dead. It also ended up being quite bouncy (as commented by the project lead: "makes me want to dance and headbang at the same time").

BadHairlineProductions did the bass this time, and he actually recorded THREE basses: the bass through most of the song is double-tracked (!) with two different bass tones, while a third one was used for a fantastic bass solo (!!!).

Ian Martyn was responsible for all the piano parts, including all the accompaniment and also a killer improvised piano solo in the first half.

Daniel Romberger is what you would call the "guest musician" on the track, you'll probably know him best as the trombonist for The Game Brass, however, this time he has joined me for an improvised theremin solo!

I did all the arrangement, sequencing, mixing, and guitar playing."

Cool SFX to kick the piece off, and I liked the delicate chromatic percussion first used at :27, which was a nice touch and great as part of the introductory segments. Loved that 1:58 continued working with the melody with different guitar backing, then shifting to bells and strings. The bass writing was good throughout, so I would have loved it to cut through more for it to shine. The electric guitar soloing at 3:18 sounded nice, followed by more aggressive electric guitar from 3:28-3:53 that was so well-performed. The guitar and percussion writing also sounds strong, so kudos to those parts really filling up the textures nicely. And prophetik music was feeling what came afterward, saying "3:53 the melodic content comes back and then we get a...theremin solo? i can dig it!" As much as I love the "chugga-chugga, chugga-chugga, CHOO CHOO!" energy of Maddigan's source tune, this one's a fun, dynamic arrangement, with quite the interpretive treatment. :-) Pretty lively for music of the dead!